Main PCs who were your absolute favorite characters in their games

Agree

Plenty of heroes are impressively strong or fast, but Batman is still the only video game hero who's impressed me with his cleverness (when he noticed the weak flooring at the entrance to Croc's lair and realized how best to make use of it.)

ITS A ME, MARIO. Seriously, Mario is the best. Duke Nukem and Conker are pretty cool too.

edited 15th Jun '11 4:59:15 PM by HappyComputerist

You know, i can't help but notice that Mario and Duke are complete opposites in every conceivable way. Strange.

Well, usually that's the player's job.

edited 15th Jun '11 5:04:57 PM by ShirowShirow

I'm guessing from the content of the OP that you are referring to RPG P Cs (where the acronym is usually used), and immediately Renegade Shepard comes to mind.

In terms of game protagonists in general, my favorite is Travis Touchdown. There are plenty of psychopathic pricks with no redeeming positive qualities whatsoever in video games (usually villains), but he takes it to a new level for comedy purposes, and he's a massive weeaboo on top of that.

number 2 would be DMC 3 Dante (and to a lesser extent DMC 1 and 4, but not the no-personality jerk of DMC 2 or the emo dork in Dm C). For illustrative purposes, see the cutscene where he drives a motorcycle up a tower and uses it as a pair of nunchucks in midair to kill some angels, or his fight with some scythe demons while eating pizza. It extends to gameplay as well, when he's killing enemies with a combination electric guitar/scythe/lightning and bat launcher, and his HUA HOO BLAST OFF YA! kiais are too damn funny. I get the nagging feeling that the developers think he's genuinely cool and not TOTALLY AWESOEM TO THE MAX.

Duke Nukem is sort of like Dante's western counterpart, except parodying the overly macho keg of testosterone that Arnold played in some of his better movies, instead of over the top 'cool'ness. Too bad he hasn't been doing so good for the last twelve or so years.

edited 15th Jun '11 5:20:13 PM by Mammalsauce

Well, Dante's been my fave character for every game in the Dm C series because he gets at least a few of the best lines/moments even when they make him a cutter (interpret that however you will).

I must say that Dm C 3's Dante was a bit too OTT for my tastes- like he absorbed the awesome from all his other incarnations and crossed over into Totally Radical. Still my favorite character in that game, however.

The point of this thread is discussing games where the Ensemble Dark Horse(s) didn't overtake the main playable in your book and what exactly made the PC so top.

edited 15th Jun '11 7:31:10 PM by Recon5

Gonna have to say Mario as well. Dude's the personification of fun. Wario in his own games, too. Stone wall blocking his path? Smash it with his head. Need to light a torch? Let Wario set himself on fire and go nuts.

Can't say Sonic The Hedgehog or Mega Man, since I liked the antagonists better. Sam, Max, and Guybrush Threepwood were the best characters in their games. Gotta love Duke Nukem, too.

Maybe it's just because I'm a fan of the comics, but Amazing Spidey in Spider Man Shattered Dimensions was my favorite character (yes, even over Deadpool.)

Does Duke Nukem actually count? Does the series actually have a single other named character?

Dante of Devil May Cry goes without saying.

Nathan Drake is a joy to play.

And, surprisingly, I actually felt a female Hawke was one of the most compelling characters in Dragon Age 2.

Zeratul. Badass in every way. Old, wise, battle-hardened, and totally got the short end of the stick as far as the universe cares but doesn't wangst about it.

Yuri Lowell, notable for the only time in Tales Series history that the main character has been the most popular character among the fanbase. He basically plays the role of older, wiser, and more badass party member (Kratos from Tales Of Symphonia, Jade from Tales Of The Abyss, so on), except he's actually the main character. Also, with the right skills, he shatters the game in half.

edited 15th Jun '11 10:51:32 PM by WildKnight

Samus Aran (Ignoring Other M), Solid Snake, Yuri Hyuga, John Marston, April Ryan, Heather Mason, Jill Valentine (Ignoring 5), and Alucard, to name a couple.

edited 15th Jun '11 11:32:37 PM by Apocali

I hold a special little place in my heart for Lucas.

edited 15th Jun '11 11:38:41 PM by Bur

Opa-Opa is the shit.

The Courier, especially in his most recent incarnation of mine, The Angriest Cancer Patient.

Good times, good times.

For some reason, I don't think anything could top a canon angriest cancer patient as a main PC.

Agreeing with all the Commander Shepard love, but none for Hawke? D:

S/He may not get as many quotable lines as Shepard, but S/He is still pretty awesome!

And Snake, of course.

I am a huge metal gear fan, and while I love Solid Snake, and even Raiden, I'd have to say Big Boss/Naked Snake is my favorite PC in any video game ever. The man is a complete badass and seriously is the greatest soldier ever. MGS 3 and Peace Walker blew me away. Big Boss is my hero. Solid/Old Snake is badass as well, in similar ways to Boss, and Raiden- I thought he was cool due to being the 'rookie' and becoming a complete badass (using the High Frequency blade when you got it in mgs2 is awesome, don't care what anybody says).

Beyond MGS, I think Jimmy Hopkins from Bully is a badass as well.

Commander Shepard, Dante, Klayman, Phoenix Wright.

This is very hard...Hmm.

Link from Wind Waker. Him. Definitely. He's also my favorite incarnation of Link. He's just such a cute little dude. Very fun to watch too. AND HE'S A FUCKING BADASS. srsly. Sure he doesn't talk, but he doesn't need to. Link's character shines through beautifully through his facial expressions and actions.

I find his toon incarnations to be the most expressive in the entire series. I suppose that's because the art style allows for exaggeration and the humor that comes with it. To think that the art style was considered strange when WW was first revealed. I do admit that it's somewhat of an acquired taste.

ST Link is my favorite of them so far, partly because he's a fellow engineer and partly because of his starting outfit.

I don't play too many video games, but I'd have to say Alucard from SOTN. Also, Link.

Frank West and Chuck Greene in Dead Rising 1 and 2 respectively.

Dante and Nate, of course.

The ones that come to my mind are both Naked and Solid Snake, Phoenix Wright (gotta love his inner monologues) and Kirby.

I haven't played DMC yet, but from what I've seen here, it seems like Dante could fall in this list once I play it.

edited 20th May '12 7:36:26 PM by Elbruno